Death penalty

Killing someone who killed seems like an oxymoron.

The death penalty is always appropriate. It is the way to stop crime; capital punishment is the only response to crime that has a 0% recidivism rate. We have crime in our society because we don't take it seriously enough to apply the only truly effective penalty.

If every crime were a capital crime, there would be no crime.

I hope you remember that pearl of wisdom if one of your children grows up and steals something or otherwise breaks the law.

They tried that in England in the 17th century as related in Daniel Defoe's novel Moll Flanders, a good read. It didn't work out too well. And a lot of the condemned got their executions waived and were shipped to the American colonies as indentured servants. It seems like America was the dumping ground for British criminals before Australia

I think the death penalty should be limited to the most horrible cases with the as ironclad as possible certainty that the killer is indeed the person being put to death.

I can't stand the thought of wrongful convictions being put to death, but then I think of this kid who murdered 17 people in FL a couple weeks ago and can't help but think he should be sentenced to death.

I'd like to see the number of death sentences limited to the worst 10 cases nationwide in a given year.

It would sure save on college expenses.

And that would be because the jury would vote for life in prison because they were only kind of certain the accused were guilty. Guilty! maybe.

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2014/04/28/how-many-people-are-wrongly-convicted-researchers-do-the-math/

Yeah, I think that's already been pretty well covered. Now, how about those wrongly convicted because the jury didn't have a death sentence to worry their conscience? If you don't get the point, it's okay to say so.

And what about all the people who deserve to be dead who are still walking around free?

And who gets to decide who deserves to be dead, Captain Oblivious?

If I had an answer, I would give it to you.

It seems kind of obvious to me...

I've got a little list. They'd none of them be missed.

Every disturbed individual has a little list, stop trying to sound like an idiot.

There's the guy behind the news reporter waving like a fool
And the mindless feminist, I've got them on the list
And the fat kid smiling warmly while he's peeing in the pool
He never would be missed, he never would be missed

There's the foul-smelling boy who comes to school in camouflage
And every bleeding member of the cast of “Entourage”
And while we're on the subject, HBO deserves a whack
For ending The Sopranos with a ******* cut to black!
And guys who when you shake their hand just bump you with their fist
I don't think they'd be missed. I'm sure they'd not be missed.

You are (maybe) aware that there are likely those with lists saying the same of you.

Just because you think someone is guilty of a crime, doesn't make it so. The books are filled with people who have even confessed to crimes and it's later learned they didn't actually commit the crimes.

Any way, it's been shown that the death penalty does not deter the average criminal...neither the career criminal nor the one time crime of passion murderer.

There is also the high cost of keeping a prisoner on death row. These folks have dozens of appeals, which is how the laws are set up. You know who pays? The tax payer. So, a person on death row is living off of your taxes. Free food, medical, lawyers...

Give a person a life without parole sentence. They may change their ways. They also don't have entitlement to so many appeals. It's actually a money saver.

I was once in a class with out then chief of police. This came up for discussion, and he agreed with your reasoning and conclusion. For what its worth, I considered him quite conservative.

He didn't change my mind.

The problem with the death penalty is there's no turning back. If you fry an innocent, oops.

Isn't that the same with any punishment... other than maybe a fine?

If you spend 15 years in prison... and then "oops". There isn't any turning back on that one either.

The person hasn’t been murdered by the state.

Your cavalier attitude toward human life is disturbing.